Leading Change in Educational Organization

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Introduction

Despite the fact that change is difficult to do well, it is a very vital aspect to organizational growth and survival. Dismissal record of success is one thing that is shared by the different forms of change. In educational organizational setting, change is required in order to bring about high performance and high quality of education. It should be clearly understood that out of the very many companies that implement change for success, only a few of them are able to succeed. This is the reason as to why it is indicated that change is difficult to implement. Educational organization across the whole world are beginning to see the benefits of change and hence are increasingly beginning to use a new and innovative approach that brings about small and large scale systems of change in different schools especially universities (Fullan, 2001, pp.43).

This study addresses the concept of change and its impacts or effects to educational organization settings, management and leading change, counteracts to change, politics, and economics, comprehension of the dynamics of change and their effects on the strategic planning of learning institutions, and other information that is related to leading change in educational organizations. Educational organizations are among the aspects that are experiencing a lot of change in the whole world and hence information concerning how this change should be led and managed is of great importance. There are different ways that are used in bringing about change in educational systems. Many researchers and scholars have stated that bring about change is one thing and leading and managing that change is another aspect. Traditional educational settings need to be changed in order to incorporate the aspect of advanced technology in education (Harris, 2007, pp.316).

Examination of Change, Behavior, Leadership Theories, and Principles

In order to gain a clear understanding of educational change process and its associated impacts on the practices of education, it is very imperative to examine change, leadership theories, behavior, and principles. In this case, change is brought about by leaders and good leaders usually consult the employees before implementing a change as indicated by the participatory leadership theories (Silverman, 2005, pp.23). According to the behavioral theory of leadership, great leaders are usually made but not born. In this case, a leader learns how to be a leader through practicing. Principles of a good leader include; listening, trusting oneself, empowering the subordinates, learning to be resilient, communicating effectively, and learning to take responsibilities.

The Concept of Change

In order to clearly understand the concept of change, it is of great importance to define this change. Change can be defined differently according to different situations. As indicated by Werkman (2009, pp.670), change is so all-encompassing in people’s lives to the extent that it almost defeats analysis and description. Generally, change is the aspect of making something looks new or transforming something from the old form to a new one (Harris, 2007, pp.317).

Change occurs over time and hence it is inevitable. This implies that there is not a time when individuals will avoid change; this is an aspect that comes as time goes by. For instance, the increased advancement of technology has brought about a lot of changes in all aspects of life over a very short period of time. Change is not always positive as in some ways it is negative or both. This means that change may come to alter what is already there either negatively or positively or even both. Researches, as indicated by Silverman (2005, pp.23), change is unavoidable and hence it is the role of the affected parties to make sure that this change is well led and managed (Leithwood et al, 1999). Change can be brought about by an individual to the society and it can emanate from the society to an individual. This indicates that a person can change the entire society while on the other hand a society can change the behaviors and thoughts of an individual. It should be noted that for a change to take place or to occur, there must be a cause and effects. In educational settings, technology has caused a lot of changes which have brought about improvement in performance of both students and teachers (Paton & McCalman, 2000).

Until recently, educational management structures and governance have been majorly bureaucratic particularly in their mode of operation which was based on centralized and top-down control. This indicates that the management and leadership of education were from districts to schools to departments to teachers to students (Dubrin, 2004, pp.87). Organizational theories and practices that have been developed and used indicate that effective educational organizations afford tampering and reforming the vertical chains of commands and greater degrees of self management as well as lateral collaborations that are characterized by bureaucratic school management (Jacobson et al, 2005, pp.617). This is a good example that change occurs over time and it is inevitable.

The concept of change does not only occur in the leadership and management of educational organizations but also to the performance of students and teachers. In this respect, the quality of education is changing where students because of improved and advanced technologies are increasingly performing very well at schools. It has become very easy for tutors to teach their students especially with the new internet technology. Organizational change, as stated by Fullan (2001, pp.43), is the process of moving from the present or current operational phase into the next and advanced functional phase. This process is very difficult as there are barriers of change. This indicates that there are some aspects that do not allow change to take place. In educational organizational settings, there are some barriers that hinder change from taking place. These barriers include; inefficient leadership and leadership strategies, ineffective communication with parties involved in change implementation, unclear processes and procedures concerning specific and general goals, lack of involvement of all parties that are concerned or involved in change management, resistance from employees, and improper or ineffective management of resources (Easterby-Smith et al, 2003, pp.23).

Impact of concept of change on educational organization setting

The above described concepts of change have great impact on educational setting in the present or current education operational systems. It has been indicated that change is inevitable and occurs over time. In this respect, the traditional management of educational organization that was majorly based on bureaucracy has changed in the recent times and schools are given a lot of autonomy to lead themselves (Davies, 2002, pp.43). Taking an example in the aspect of funding education, it is clear that not only, for example, in the United States of America where the state had overall role of financing education but in the whole world. This has changed over time because of a number of political, social and economic factors. On this basis, state governments in many countries of the world contribute only a half of the educational funding while the rest is contributed by other sources (Dessler, 2001, pp.65).

There has been a general trend towards devolved responsibility where schools are now allowed greater scope for self management and the empowerment of teachers allowing them to take professional responsibility for the learning that goes on their classes. It is of importance to note that communities that are served by schools are allowed to take broader opportunities in these schools in order to become more involved in school governance (Chrusciel, 2008, pp.156). This is a change that has occurred over a period of time and has its causes and effects.

Basically, when community members are allowed greater opportunities and involved in governance, there are the ones who are much aware of the situations of the students in these district schools and hence they direct teachers on which student requires much financial and social support (Fullan, 2007, pp.56). These changes in the organization of schools have at times been extensive and varied from systems mandated standards that permit tutors to utilize their professional judgment in determining the particular approach that should be the best for students in meeting the requirements of those standards, to the spread of charter schools which permit a lot of self management at school levels. The concept of change that characterizes it as providing positive and negative results is outlined by these changes that have been implemented in educational organizations (Bush & Middlewood, 2005, pp.28). In this case, outcomes have been disappointing especially where there is lack of management and leadership principles at school level.

A lot of changes have occurred in educational organizations settings in the last two decades and the years ahead will bring about much more changes. Most of these changes have come from developments in the external environment where educational organizations have to thrive and survive in. Sometimes changes occur without warning but experience has showed that is a very rare case hence implying that people ignore signs of change or misinterpret them. Change is believed to be brought about by an individual to society or society to individuals and therefore in educational institutions good and well experienced managers are required who can implement positive changes (Spiro, 2010, pp.27). Taking an example in Iran, the minister of education has tried a lot in trying to reduce the high populations of students in the country’s universities. In this case, he proposed the introduction of blended education that is a mixture of face to face learning and online learning. This aspect has changed the overall education systems of this country as many students who are incapable of paying the full tuition fees in campuses are able to enroll for online learning programs. This has also relieved teachers from the burden of teaching large groups of students at universities. This is a good example of change that is brought about by an individual to the whole society.

Change is of no meaning if it is not well led and managed. In educational organizational settings, there is a requirement that well informed and experienced personnel should be selected to manage and lead change. For instance, the change that was introduced in Iranian private universities as describe above could be of no meaning if it was not properly managed and led (Rothwell et al, 2009, pp.45). Bringing about changes is one thing and managing is another. The traditional European education system that was adopted by many countries of the world is increasingly changing in extensity and scope. For instance, in the United States of America a lot of reforms are being implemented that are aimed at improving the quality of education. For instance, the No Child Left Behind Act of the year 2001 indicates that all students should be tested before they graduate from high school education to post secondary education. The responsibility and roles of testing students ranges from state to state, school to school, and from teacher to teacher. Students are tested at state level in order to examine their performance. This change has brought about a lot of positives in the education system as students are able to decide their future careers according to their performance in the numerous subjects that are tested (Hickman, 2009, pp.65). On the other hand, there are some problems that are involved in this process which indicate that changes do not only bring about positive aspects but also negative ones. In this case, students who do not want to continue with post secondary education are not helped by this testing at all (Reeves, 2009, pp.56).

Leading change implies that the change that has been introduced in educational organizations is correctly led in order to bring good yields to the directly and indirectly involved parties. If changing; professionally, organizationally, and personally, were very simple and straightforward process, there could be a lot of visions which are actualized, mission accomplished, and dreams realized (Case, 2005, pp.34). Since change is not a simple aspect to implement and manage, it is required that professionals be used in this aspect. Leading change means that providing relevant resources, engaging all parties involved in the process of implementation of change, and using effective tactics in change implementation (Roueche et al, 2008, pp.31). In the current world, leading and managing change in educational institution setting requires a lot of innovations and inventions. This is because the current world is changing at very high rate and without innovations and inventions educational institutions will lag behind.

The other aspect of change is that it should be learned. This implies that in order to for people to clearly understand changes, they must have plenty of information about the particular changes. This therefore calls for learning of changes. In the current educational institution settings, a lot of changes have been brought about by advancement in technology and hence it’s the role of teachers to train students on the ways of using this technology. For instance, many schools in the world especially in the developed world have moved from the aspect of copying notes in a book to typing notes during classes while using laptops. This is a technological change and which should be taught to students over time (Baldridge & Deal, 1975, pp.76). The best way of managing change in educational organization settings is to train parties involved (teachers, students, and seniors) on the uses of that change. The integration of learning management systems in K-12 has opened a lot of opportunities where teachers, students, and parents are able to communicate and interact online.

It has been indicated by McDonald and Stockley (2010, pp. 37) that, if something cannot be measured in an organization it becomes very difficult to manage it. In this case, changes occurring in educational organization settings need to be measured so that they can be managed. This concept of change has increasingly impacted educational organization as when changes occur they are measure accordingly and when their scopes and intensities are identified, it becomes very easy to manage them (Durrant & Holden, 2005, pp.16). For example, the change that was brought about in Iranian private universities by the minister of education to this country was measurable and hence easily managed.

The numerous changes that have occurred in educational institutions in the whole world have positively and negatively impacted these institutions. This is because a lot of students are enrolling for higher education in different universities of the world as a result of the introduction and implementation of blended learning (Werkman, 2009, pp.25). The quality of education has changed greatly as a result of introduction of new technologies in education sector and increased supply of information from the internet. Changes in educational settings are brought about by political and economic aspects. For instance the blended learning in Iran is as a result of political aspect (Silverman, 2005, pp.58). Additionally, the aspect of many governments from all over the world deciding to fund education partly is a result of economic aspects since educations has become very expensive.

The negative side of these changes is that education in the whole globe has become very expensive and competitive especially to the international students (Paton & McCalman, 2000, pp.78). Many people are unable to pay their tuition fees while studying in different schools. Learning programs are increasingly changing with the increased technological changes in the whole world. The increase populations in different countries of the world have brought about the increased number of educational organizations. This is explained by the aspect of changes occurring over a period of time since before the last two decades, the number of schools in the whole world were very few as many people were not attending schools. In the current world, education has been defined as the key to economic success of a country and hence there is increased numbers of students at schools (Jacobson et al, 2005, pp.623).

Managing and Leading Change

One of the contradicting aspects that are facing educational organizations in the whole world is lack of leaders and managers to identify and understand their roles. Leaders do not make plans, solve problems, or organize people but they prepare educational organizations for change and assist them cope in their struggle through change (Dubrin, 2004, pp.34). On the other hand managers, plan and budget for changes, organizing people to be prepared for change, do the staffing, control the workforce, and help in solving problems that may be brought about by this change. it should be noted that in educational organizations setting, change managers analyze the situation, motivate the parties involved in change implementations towards acceptance of this change, and set up public relations with the people (Students, teachers, communities, and administrators) who are affected by the change (Easterby-Smith et al, 2003, pp.63). Leadership in change is always of low percentage as compared to management as it was indicated by Davies (2002, 201).

Effective leadership in change is indicated by actions that create and improve organizational capabilities and management systems which are exhibited through increased interactions with governmental capacities represented by management systems. In leading change in educational organization, leaders should establish a direction, motivate people, and align them in order to be very much prepared in receiving change. It should be noted that changes are mostly rejected by people if they are not made to understand the benefits of this change (Dessler, 2001, pp.26). For instance, blended learning that was introduced in Iran and which is implemented in many other nations of the world could have been rejected by teachers if they were not motivated and aligned to receive it (Chrusciel, 2008, pp.29).

Management on the other hand involves planning, budgeting, organizing, and staffing in order to get prepared for that change. When a certain educational program or course is introduced in a campus in any country, it is the role of the managers to make sure that the project is adequately funded, the sources of funds, the personnel who will be involved in that project like who will be the head of department, which teachers will be teaching this new course and so on, and the responsibilities of each and every member of staff who will be required to take part in that project. If the numbers of tutors or trainers are not enough in undertaking this course, the management is responsible for staffing (Spiro, 2010, pp.45).

In most modern organization, management of change has become a very crucial aspect in seeking the final component of successfully managing strategy, culture, and process (Fullan, 2007, pp.36). The increased technological innovations and demographic changes that are experienced in educational institutions today require these organizations to change at very high rates. This is because, as revealed by Bush and Middlewood (2005, pp.39), change management is a continuous process where a combination of art and science is used in assuring alignment of an educational organization’s process, strategy, and structures. Researchers have indicated that leaders who are much more satisfying to their subjects are more transformational and less transactional (Spiro, 2010, pp.43). This implies that leaders should bring about changes in educational institutions in order to satisfy their followers. An effective leader recognizes that transformational changes will occur in an interaction among the followers. Educational organizations undertake political, social, economic, and technological changes that are needed in their survival and prosperity in the current environment. Teachers, students, and administrators are being involved in these changes in order to make sure that barriers of change are reduced drastically (Reeves, 2009, pp.19).

In order to effectively manage and lead change in educational organizations, there must be change agents and representatives in the management of change. Particular educational institutions should select individuals who are very much capable of bringing about change. Transformational change in education sector is very crucial and hence professionals should be used in determining what type of change that should be implemented (Hickman, 2009, pp.66). For instance, a university that intends to introduce blended learning should be able to manage the aspect of online learning by creating and designing a website where online students will be able to get class materials and present their assignments. These are preparations that should not be underestimated when talking about leading change. In the current world which is full of technological innovations, high level of leadership and management qualities are required in ensuring that educational organizations go hand in hand with the prevailing technological advancements (Rothwell et al, 2009, pp.67).

Leading change in educational organizations is ensuring that the change is making sense to those who are affected. This denotes that people outside educational organizations like community members may be affected by the changes that may be implemented (Baldridge & Deal, 1975, pp.19). There has to be some sound personal reasons why other parties like teachers, non teaching staff, local community representatives, and administrators should be engaged in the process of implementing change (Case, 2005, pp.87). For instance, if it is the case of testing students before they graduate to post secondary education, parents and teachers should be engaged in decision making. Leading change imply getting people engaged and involved with it in order to make them engage positively with it (Roueche et al, 2008, pp.67). When people are engaged in a change, there is a high probability of accepting it.

Leaders of change need to communicate and continue communicating direction and purpose of the change. It should be noted that if change is well led and managed it brings about prosperity to the people involved and the entire educational organizations. Educational organizations are involved in training students to be good managers and leaders and hence they need to be in the front line in matters relating to leading and managing change. The fact that change is inevitable should be used as strength in these organizations in making sure that they are at all times ready for changes. Additionally, as learned under the concept of change, changes are either positive, negative or even both and hence it all depends with the leaders and managers of change. In this case, if the leadership and management are good a change will be favorable (Moe & Chubb, 2009, pp.56).

Barriers of Change in Educational Organizations

Change, despite its widespread benefits is not a straightforward aspect that is welcomed by all aspects in educational organizations. This implies that there a number of factors that hinder change and it is the role and responsibility of leaders and managers of change to make sure that these barriers or resistances are counteracted. In order to identify the various ways of counteracting resistance to change, it is of great importance to identify the various barriers of change in educational organizations (McDonald & Stockley, 2010, pp.32).

Organizational change usually involves human resources in the process of altering through advancing the way things are conducted in an institution. This process is very tough for both the institution and the involved parties. It should be noted that in the process of implementing change, there can be changes in the transfer of employees, ownership, and processes of an institution (Durrant & Holden, 2005, pp.65). It is the tendency and nature of human beings to resist change and hence the agents of change usually have a very difficult time in making sure that they are able to counteract the resistances of change. Individuals resist change because of the fear that the change will negatively impact them. For instance, teachers may resist the aspect of blended learning fearing that they will be over burdened or they will be required to further their education (Tye & Tye, 1992, 65). In this case, the fear of negative impacts of change makes people and mostly the employees in educational organizations resist change. It should be noted that many people are mostly concerned with their current circumstances as compared to those of the organization and hence they fear that a change implemented would negatively impact their current circumstances (Werkman, 2009, pp.670). In this case, employees fail to recognize the positive impacts the implemented change will have to the entire organization.

In any organization, employees usually form work habits and hence they usually fear that if a change is introduced in that organization, their habits would be negatively impacted. Mostly, it is very hard to break bad habits but they must be in order for an educational organization like a university to develop (Silverman, 2005, pp.45). For instance, lecturers may have formed a habit of skipping some lectures or leaving lectures earlier than the required period of time and hence they fear that a change in the way students are taught may negatively impact their habits (Cummings & Worley, 2008, pp.34). Employee absenteeism and churn are some of the ways in which employees may manifest their resistance to changes. In this respect, lecturers may start absenting themselves from classes in order to communicate to the administration that they are not in support for the proposed change (Paton & McCalman, 2000, pp.25).

Teachers may resist change because of the worries of how their lives and work will be affected by the proposed change. This is fear of the uncertainty which makes teachers, even though they have dissatisfaction with their present jobs, to resist change (Leithwood et al, 1999, pp. 36). The concern over personal loss is another aspect that makes teachers to resist change in educational institutions. Some changes may benefit district schools but some teachers may resist this change because of the cost of change in matters relating to loss of power, salary, quality of work, and prestige. Group resistance is another aspect that needs to be addressed in identifying the barriers of change (Harris, 2007, pp.320). In this case, different groups have different norms, behaviors, and performances that are communicated to the members. If a change does not comply with these behaviors, norms, and performances of these groups, this change will be rejected (Jacobson et al, 2005, pp.630).

Counteract Resistance to Change

There are a number of ways that resistance to change may be countered and make it easy to implement change. The methods of counteracting resistance to change are not always forceful but educative and convincing where those people who are resisting change are made to understand the benefits of this change and the benefits that they and the whole institution will have when the proposed changes are implemented (Fullan, 2001, pp.65). These ways include; education and communication, participation and involvement, negotiation and agreement, facilitation and support, manipulation and cooptation, and explicit as well as implicit coercion (Wagner, 1998, pp.513).

i) Education and communication

When school leaders adequately communicate with organization members in order to assist them see the usefulness of the change and the logic behind it. Communication in any organization, as indicated by Dubrin (2004, pp.56), is very essential as it makes all people feel that they are recognized in that organization. Lack of proper communication and education makes people reject or refuse a change without knowing its implications. This is achieved through face to face communication, publications, special reports, or even formal group presentations (Bascia & Hargreaves, 2000, pp.75). By educating and communicating to each other, the leader- member relation is strengthened and characterized by mutual trust.

ii) Participation and Involvement

Educational institution’s members who are involved in the process of planning and implementing a change are less likely to resist that that as they are the ones who planned and implemented it. As a result of this therefore, as argued by Easterby-Smith et al (2003, pp.19), leaders and managers of change may allow those people oppose change to express their views on the proposed change indicating potential problems and giving suggestions on the modifications. By doing this, resistance to change will be reduced drastically (Lewis, 2011, pp.12).

iii) Facilitation and Support

During the process of implementing change, leaders should manifest facilitative and supportive leadership conducts. This is done by listening to teachers’ ideas, using teachers’ ideas that have merits, and being approachable (Davies, 2002, pp.201). Leaders make the working conditions more pleasant by supporting the organizational members. For instance they may develop the staff by helping them acquire more skills that are crucial in implementing the change especially at difficulty times. Such behaviors are likely to diminish resistance to change (Dessler, 2001, pp.39).

iv) Negation and Agreement

Through provision of incentives for cooperation, leaders are able to neutralize actual or potential resistance. For example when there is a collective bargaining at school between the school board and different employee unions, employees can be given certain concessions in order to provide their support for a new program proposed by the school leaders (Hargreaves et al, 2010, pp.43). These concessions may be things like bonuses, increased union representations in decision making, and increments in salaries. By doing this, the leaders will be reducing the level of resistance of employees to a proposed change (Chrusciel, 2008, pp.150).

v) Manipulation and Cooptation

In order to make sure that a change will be successful, school leaders chose to be much selective on the people who are supposed to get information, how much information, the accuracy of that information, and when to disseminate the information (Fullan, 2007, pp.17). Additionally, resistance to change may be reduced by giving the leaders of resisting groups the main roles in decision making about the change. This will help in identifying their views and making sure that they propose something which they cannot resist (Bush & Middlewood, 2005, pp.78). It should be noted that the main reason for seeking the advice of resisters is not to arrive at a better decision but to make sure that their endorsement is adequately captured. These two methods are less costly in influencing potential resisters to accept change but they may backfire especially when the resisters know that they are being tricked (Lieberman, 2005, pp.16). In this case therefore, they should be conducted with great care not to bring about more problems.

vi) Explicit and Implicit Coercion

Force or coercion should be used as the last resort when all other ways have failed in making people accept change. It should be noted that some changes require urgent or immediate implementation and hence coercion may be used to force the resistors to accept it (Spiro, 2010, pp.89). This can be done by threatening resistors that they will lose their jobs, their salaries will be frozen, or they will be demoted if they do not comply with the change. Coercion should be used with great care since there are negative effects that are associated with it (Horsford, 2010, pp.43). These effects include; alienation, revenge, frustration, and fear which may result in employees’ turnover, dissatisfaction, and poor performance (Hussey, 2000, pp.17).

Politics and Economics of Change

As indicated earlier in this study, changes are influenced by political and economic factors. In order to implement changes in educational organizations, leaders require seeking a lot of support from the local authorities, from teachers, students, ministry of education, and even the government. This is because political aspects may be used as a way of resisting change (Hiatt & Creasey, 2003, pp.60). Politicization of changes in educational institutions is a concept that is taking place in many parts of the world. In this case, when leaders want their proposed changes to be accepted by the teachers, students, workers’ unions, and other parties, they introduce certain elements of politics (Morrison, 1998, pp.78). When the political leaders are not happy with the proposed change they may ensure that it is not accepted by the affected parties. This is done by lobbying for resistance or by making sure that the affected parties are made to recognize the negative effects of this change. This, as revealed by Sims and Sims (2004, pp.13) is very destructive and may lead to resistance of this change. Change is brought about by individuals and communicated to individuals and hence the political aspect is introduced in this change (McLaughlin, 1977, pp.56).

Change is influenced by economic conditions prevailing in a certain educational organization at a certain period of time. In this case, a change proposed by leaders should be within the proposed budgets of managers in order to avoid proposing a very expensive change (Lee et al, 2004, pp.12). As indicated in leading and managing change, it is the work of managers but not leaders to ensure that there are adequate resources to support the proposed change. On this basis, a change that is too expensive will not be accepted by many people despite the fact that it may be very beneficial (Giacquinta, 1973, pp.180). This is because there will be no resources (capital, human, and physical) to support it. It is therefore very imperative for leaders and managers of change to consider the politics and economics of change before they implement them.

Dynamics of Change and how it affects Strategic Planning of Educational Organization

Dynamism is a concept of change and it is characterized with it. Change is dynamic meaning that it keeps on changing with changes in economics, politics, and technologies among other aspects. In this case, aspects in educational organizations change from the past situation through the current to the future. These changes that are characterized with change drastically influence the educational organizations (Pugh, 1974, pp.67). According to Moe and Chubb (2009, pp.34), over a period of time education in higher institutions has gone under a large number of changes. For instance, in the past higher education in both private and public educational institutions was characterized by face to face learning (Sunaina & George, 2005, pp.56).

This aspect has changed drastically in the present situations where many campuses especially private campuses in the developed and developing world have introduced blended learning that encompasses both traditional face to face learning and online learning (Clarke et al, 2000). This is an aspect of dynamism of change that is experienced in the whole world. It should be noted that the aspect of dynamism of change has helped a lot the educational institutions in introducing and implementing a change (Brickell, 1962, pp.84). This is because that type of change that is implemented today may change in the future. When implementing change for instance introducing online learning, campuses usually take into consideration the future aspects of this change. In this case, the leaders and managers of change consider what will be the future changes that will be brought about by the proposed change (Jellison, 2006, pp.45).

Leaders of change should understand the dynamics of change as they are normal outcomes in order to avoid over reacting to the conducts of teachers or workers’ unions. People in most cases feel ill and awkward as well as self conscious when a change is introduced. In this case, when teachers or other employees in educational organizations are required to do things differently, their habitual ways are disrupted (Pugh, 1974, pp.56). As they try to eliminate the old responses and learn the new change, they tend to feel awkward or uncomfortable. Despite the fact that the new changes will bring about positive results both to the employees and the educational institutions in general, employees tend to concentrate mostly on what they will lose rather than the profits or benefits that will be accrued (Moe, T. and Chubb, 2009, pp.34). This indicates that people focus mainly on what they will have to give up when they accept the change. When change leaders in these institutions are very much aware of these dynamics, they will be in a position to deal with employees in the appropriate way (Sunaina & George, 2005, pp.56). It is therefore of great importance for the leaders to acknowledge the loss of the old ways and should not be frustrated with irrational or tentative responses to change.

In most cases, people affected by a change usually feel alone even though everyone else is undergoing through the same change process. This is because each and every individual wants to feel that their situations are special and unique (Brickell, 1962, pp.83). This results in the aspect of isolation for the people who are undergoing the change. In this respect, change leaders should be gentle and proactive in making sure they show the employees that their situations are understood (Clarke et al, 2000). The magnitude of change is a very essential aspect to put into consideration because people are usually unable to handle too much change within a very short time period. Employees in educational organizations will only be able to undergo small changes per certain period of time in order to remain functional (Jellison, 2006, pp.89). It is true that some changes are beyond the control of employees or the parties that are affected by these changes and hence it becomes more advantageous if changes are not piled upon changes.

When any type of change in introduced, there are its supporters and those people who have difficulties in adapting.This indicates that people are at diverse levels of readiness for change. Those people who resist changes initially they come to accept them afterwards (Pugh, 1974, pp.67). In this case, those people who are more ready for changes are in a better position of influencing others to accept them. This can be done through open discussions that are allowed in educational institutions (Moe & Chubb, 2009, pp.34).

Conclusion

change is a concept that occurs over a period of time and from time to time. Not all people in an organization are ready for this change and hence it can be resisted by some people. It is therefore the role of change leaders to make sure that all people are incorporated in the process of adapting change. The managers of change in educational institutions should ensure that there are enough resources for the implementation of a new change. It is very essential for leaders to understand the views of all people in order to avoid much resistance to change.

Sunaina, P. and George, K. (2005). Dynamics of Change in Kerala’s Education System: The Socio-economic and Political Dimensions. Retrieved on June 3, 2011 from http://csesindia.org/admin/modules/cms/docs/publication/12.pdf

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